A fascinating portrait of power, love and royalty in dangerous times
SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE
 

Few relationships fire our imagination like that of Elizabeth I and her ‘bonnie sweet Robin’ – the Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley. But it has been almost half a century since any book set out specifically to examine and disentangle the emotive, often contradictory facts about their lifelong love.

They both grew up amid the palaces and plots of Henry VIII's court; they were both imprisoned in the Tower of London by Elizabeth's sister, Mary. Soon after Elizabeth was queen came the scandalised letters from ambassadors of her infatuation with the married Robert Dudley – to be followed a mere two years later by the suspicious death of his wife Amy. Speculation ran for years that Elizabeth and Robert in their turn would marry. Instead, they developed a working partnership, and - an even more extraordinary intimacy - a bond of mutual dependence and affection.

By the time Robert died he had been Elizabeth's councillor and commander of her army, sat by her bed in sickness and represented her on state occasions. But she had also humiliated him, made him dance attendance on her other suitors and tried to have him clapped in prison when finally he broke loose and married again.

Elizabeth & Leicester is a portrait – at times a startlingly intimate one – of two people who forged their age; of a relationship where, very unusually, a woman held all the power; of an edgy yet enduring love that still speaks to us today.

Vivid and lively
DAILY MAIL

Gristwood disentangles the many myths and stories that have been spun about the life-long love and loyalty between the queen and her 'Sweet Robin'.
Daily Telegraph

[A] vivacious and absorbing study
SUNDAY TIMES

Quite simply one of the most enthralling history books I've ever read ... a convincing and captivating portrayal of the Virgin Queen and the man who meant more to her than any other. You must read this!
ALISON WEIR

Pacey and highly readable ... As well as producing an enthralling account of one particular relationship, Gristwood crams her book with fascinating detail of life at the Elizabethan court.
Mail on Sunday

An accessible, thought-provoking portrait
SCOTTISH SUNDAY HERALD

Heaving with detail and anecdote, Elizabeth and Leicester plunges us into the turbulent Tudor world and makes absorbing reading. Gristwood juggles the numerous theories regarding her two principals with intelligence and sensitivity.
Independent on Sunday

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